By Grant McGee: Local columnist The Lady of the House and I have returned from a 4,600-mile odyssey through the American Southland visiting family. We went to Memphis, Tenn., to Asheville, N.C., on to Roanoke, Va., then southward to Charleston, S.C., to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., then upstate to Fort Walton Beach. We passed through […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist Two-dollar bills always seem to get a bad reputation. Many folks don’t want them in their wallets and some cashiers even scrunch up their faces when you pay for stuff with them. I ran across an article the other day about $2 bills used regularly as change at some exotic […]

By Tony Gutierrez: CNJ staff writer EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD DAVID BROSFEAU has played piano for more than half his life, earning accolades including a third-place finish at the state competition of the Piano Music Teachers of New Mexico. He’s also performed before such dignitaries as Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Brosfeau said he was introduced to the piano […]

Monica Ortiz, manager of Mr. W fireworks stand, shows fireworks to Alexis Lopez, 8, front, Marisol Lopez, 11, and Jacob Dominguez, 3. The children said they were saving their fireworks for the holiday, but their mother doubts they will last that long. By Gabriel Monte: CNJ staff writer Planet Fireworks manager Rick Fry said he […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist There’s a framed black and white snapshot on my shelf at work. It’s of a smiling, jovial guy in a flannel shirt standing in front of a car with the hood up. Every now and then someone asks me, “Who’s the man in the picture?” “That’s Scoutmaster Phil,” I say. […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist “You don’t like my collections for some reason,” I said. “You make little snippy comments about them every now and then.” “I don’t like collections that gather dust,” said The Lady of the House. “I don’t mind your music collection; you play all those LPs and cassettes. But that book […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist You kick a few things around in your head as you hunker down in the hallway of your home, wondering if a tornado is going to come whirling out of the dark, rainy night and slam into your house. That’s the way it was last Friday night, The Night of […]

By Curtis K. Shelburne: Religion columnist I don’t know if anyone has come up with a 12-step group, something on the order of Alcoholics Anonymous, for packrats, but I hope so. I need to join forthwith. “We’ve always done it that way,” is the motto for folks with one kind of affliction. But the motto […]

By Curtis Shelburne: CNJ Religion Columnist Generally speaking, even though I really enjoy my daily work, I enjoy holidays a great deal. I like special times when most folks take a much-needed day or two off to enjoy each other, eat too much, and goof off a bit. Taking a little time off on occasion, […]

By Grant McGee: Local Columnist The other day I encountered a smooshed Southwestern box turtle on Kimberly Lane while tooling along on my bicycle. I paused for a minute to look at the little guy. No fuss, no muss, the turtle was just smooshed. “Well, I guess you won’t be in the turtle race,” I […]

By Clyde Davis: local columnist I was leaving the parking lot of a large hardware chain when I heard the sound of a driver slamming his way through the vehicle’s gears. The sound reminded me high school and Skip Weil. Pleasant, rotund Skip, our group’s resident gearhead, whose 1967 Chevelle was a patiently crafted and […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist The family dogs are named Jessie and Tilly. Jessie is the shepherd mix, Tilly is an Airedale. Their dominion is the back room and back yard. We would let them into the rest of the house to join the family but Tilly has forgotten she was housebroken. The Lady of […]

By Curtis K. Shelburne Gentleness. What a beautiful quality. In fact, I’ve been enjoying the studies we’ve had at church recently on what St. Paul calls the “fruits of the Spirit.” We’re just now studying “gentleness.” I even taught one class. Yes, I seem to remember closing the discussion that morning with the observation that […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist Tuesday is election day in Clovis. I sure am glad there are folks who will step up to the plate and run for political office. It ain’t my cup o’ tea. I could make up a list of all kinds of reasons why politics doesn’t interest me: the meetings, trying […]

By Curtis Shelburne If mortals like us were big enough, strong enough and wise enough to reach up into the night sky with a paper cup and scoop up a drink of the Milky Way’s liquid light, maybe we’d be big enough, strong enough and wise enough to catch with our minds some idea of […]

By Grant McGee: Local columnist To paddle or not to paddle — that was the question raised at a recent Clovis Municipal School Board meeting. This discussion is nothing new. On one side there’ll be the “If you spare the rod you’ll spoil the child” crowd. On the other will be those who believe if […]

By Grant McGee: Local Columnist Remember that hard freeze we had the first week of December? Temperatures were hovering around zero. Thick ice covered the back-yard pond. When the pond thawed there were a bunch of belly-up goldfish on the surface. I had been so proud of those little goldfish. They were born last summer. […]

Karl Terry Spc. James Montgomery, a member of the 126th Military Police, a National Guard Unit out of Albuquerque, is enjoying his first break from active duty in five months at his parents home in Portales. He is currently stationed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. He says the sight of dirty streets with trash […]

Milz Bickley, left, of Pep, Joshuah Schultz, 15, center, and his brother Jeremiah, 17, both of Portales, carry a bucket of golf clubs Friday into the Curry County Mounted Patrol Arena. (Staff photo: Eric Kluth) By Kevin Wilson By most accounts, Saturday’s High Plains Yard Sale will be the biggest yard sale in eastern New […]